Saturday, November 13, 2010

Genomics in Taipei, dark energy in Shanghai

I begin with a brief review of psychometric results concerning intelligence (sometimes referred to as the g factor, or IQ), emphasizing the stability, validity (predictive power) and heritability of adult IQ. Next, I discuss ongoing Genome Wide Association Studies which investigate the genetic basis of intelligence. Due mainly to the rapidly decreasing cost of sequencing (currently below $5k per genome), it is likely that within the next 5-10 years we will identify loci which account for a significant fraction of total IQ variation. Finally, I discuss the near term possibility of genetic engineering for intelligence.

This talk is aimed at physicists and should be accessible without specialized background in psychology or biology.